Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

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quakersam
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Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by quakersam » Sun Apr 03, 2011 8:22 pm

Well what can I say about yesterday, it was an away game that shall live in my memory for quite a while.
I was booked on the 9.30 train out of Darlo down to London, but on arriving at the station I was met with 3 Darlington-London trains all delayed, the last one going through was the 8am.
On having a word with the East Coast reps, they said they'd had a signal failure and they were expecting at least an hours delay. They gave me a time of 1000 for the first one to come through and told me either to get on it or get a refund from my tickets if I didn't want to travel. I thought to myself, I'm not turning the game down and I'll try my best to get down there.
A train eventually turned up at ten to 11 meaning I didn't arrive in the capital until about twenty to 2, bearing in mind it was a 45 minute journey to Crawley. I ran through the underground and managed to get down to Victoria only to miss the connection. The next train wasn't until 2.30 so I just had to accept defeat that I'd miss the start of the game. I got to Crawley, jumped in a cab and made the game 30 minutes in.

The game passed by so quick, although Crawley were on top for most of the remaining 15 minutes of the first half, I managed to see us create a few decent chances with Taylor fizzing a shot over from 25 yards after some good link-up play. Crawley looked decent but the referee was conned a number of times by their players and for all I know might as well have been wearing a red shirt. The amount of times he gave fouls against us was actually unbelievable, even Coops/Dryden were perplexed.
Second half we put on Michael Smith and McReady who both did quite well in their cameo appearances, especially when we went with Modest, Hatch and Smith up front, we again created a number of chances, Hatch had a good header saved with Burn's follow up going over the bar. M.Smith volleyed in from 25 yards top corner but we had unfortunately been given offside. Crawley's goal came out of nothing but was a decent effort from 25 yards coming off the inside of the post. Crawley shot Brodie on in search of a second but Russell was equal to his efforts tipping over a chance he'd created. They also hit the post once more, before Evans started going red and furiously tapping his watch at the referee (ala Fergy) in injury time.

The journey back was to be just as interesting as the way down. Back at Crawley station someone decided to go running up the tracks so we couldn't depart, before the train then got terminated in the middle of nowhere. They eventually sent us another train to pick us up and take us back to London, although that again delayed me in getting back to Kings Cross meaning I missed my connection home.
Luckily I'd like to thank East Coast for twice giving me written authorisation to use my advanced tickets that I'd booked on specific trains, otherwise it could have been a very expensive day. Sorry for the essay
QuakerSam ...Once a Quaker, always a Quaker

quakersam
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Re: Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by quakersam » Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:06 pm

Haha cheers :)
QuakerSam ...Once a Quaker, always a Quaker

m62exile
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Re: Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by m62exile » Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:33 pm

Just in case you weren't aware, if you keep your tickets and go to East Coast's website, their customer charter entitles you to a full refund if you are delayed a certain length of time ( I think 2 hours).

I have claimed a few times and got a full refund in rail vouchers, pretty easy to do....although not many people seem to know about it.

Good luck!

quakersam
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Re: Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by quakersam » Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:37 pm

Thanks m62, heard them say something to someone who was in-front of me yesterday and I've already had a look on their site. I didn't actually get on the train I was booked on but I ended up being delayed about 90 minutes so I should be able to claim something back
QuakerSam ...Once a Quaker, always a Quaker

m62exile
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Re: Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by m62exile » Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:47 pm

quakersam wrote:Thanks m62, heard them say something to someone who was in-front of me yesterday and I've already had a look on their site. I didn't actually get on the train I was booked on but I ended up being delayed about 90 minutes so I should be able to claim something back
Here you go.

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/about-us/pas ... lay-Repay/

quakersam
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Re: Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by quakersam » Sun Apr 03, 2011 9:52 pm

Thanks. Will do that tomorrow
QuakerSam ...Once a Quaker, always a Quaker

DarLou
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Re: Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by DarLou » Mon Apr 04, 2011 2:28 am

Way to persevere youth!

bga
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Re: Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by bga » Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:26 pm

QuakerSam And I bet you forgot to take your Bradshaw's Guide with you! Come to think of it you might have got there quicker even in Victorian times. Where was Michael Portillo when you needed him?
:wave:

quakersam
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Re: Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by quakersam » Mon Apr 04, 2011 9:41 pm

:) Haha I don't even think he could of got me there in time, never mind pussying around seeing sites :lol:
m62 thanks, sorted my claim out today, scanned in my tickets and sent it off to them, done within a few minutes, isn't it great what you can do with technology ey... I'm thinking of putting one in to Southern too as there cock-ups + eventual 45 minute delay made me miss my train home out of Kings Cross
QuakerSam ...Once a Quaker, always a Quaker

m62exile
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Re: Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by m62exile » Tue Apr 05, 2011 9:23 am

quakersam wrote::) Haha I don't even think he could of got me there in time, never mind pussying around seeing sites :lol:
m62 thanks, sorted my claim out today, scanned in my tickets and sent it off to them, done within a few minutes, isn't it great what you can do with technology ey... I'm thinking of putting one in to Southern too as there cock-ups + eventual 45 minute delay made me miss my train home out of Kings Cross
No worries, glad to help. Its one of those little bits of info that can be worth a lot but nobody ever seems to know about....worth bearing in mind for future Darlo away games.

AndyPark
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Re: Crawley - A Journey I'll Never Forget

Post by AndyPark » Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:54 pm

They had the same signalling problems a few weeks back when I was travelling up to Darlington, was stuck in Doncaster for 4 hours. Got a few free beers and food, so kept me happy enough :)

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